From the President:What is a Hockey Player? (Excerpts taken from Dave Dorr St Louis Post Dispatch)
Between the innocence of childhood and the dignity of an adult, we find a creature called a hockey player. Hockey players come in assorted weights, heights, jersey colors and numbers, but all hockey players have the same creed, to play every second of every period of every game to the best of their ability.
Hockey players are found everywhere....underneath, on top of, skating around, falling over, passing, twisting from, or stick handling through the opponent.
Teammates rib them, officials penalize them, students and fans cheer them, siblings idolize them, coaches encourage them, parents worry about them and dentists love them.
A IYHA hockey player is courage on skates, hope in a helmet, pride in pads and the best in a jersey and breezers.
Brad DeKanick, IYHA President

From the Vice President:
This segment of the SuperRink Spectacular tournament was a success. A number of the participating team coaches or managers made it a point to stop by and thank us. They had a good time and the tournament ran smoothly. Even the paramedics had positive comments and they attend a large number of tournaments. This tournament would not have run smoothly if not for our volunteers. Neither association would benefit financially if not for our volunteers.

A huge "thank you" to all of you. A special thanks to Dawn Stimmler and Pat O'Connor who coordinated all our volunteers. To our rink directors: Gary Rundle, Tom Welty, Colleen Law, John Eide, Steve Stimmler, Brad DeKanick, Jerry Batcha, Niki Gjere, and Randy Bortot. Renee Oleson assisted in volunteer coordinator behind the scenes and pitched in during the tournament.

Standing in the penalty boxes, scoring, timekeeping and announcing make for red noses and cold feet, and also provide the opportunity to watch some great hockey and learn something about other teams. Keeping watch at the gate helps ensure better gate totals.

Unfortunately this year, The Hattrick Cafι wouldn't let us work there, which is a loss of revenue, so we had very clean tables thanks to those who had volunteered for working food and ended up cleaning tables. A lot of raffle tickets were sold in a relatively short time (assertive selling). I apologize if I have left anyone or anything out. Again, a huge "thank you" to all. Hopefully the tournament in January will be as good (smaller, but good).
Thank you again. Jeanne Falconer, Vice President

S.K.A.T.E. Program
Skaters Keep Achieving Through Education (S.K.A.T.E.) was established to encourage, support and reward youth hockey players who commit themselves to their schoolwork while enjoying the sport of hockey. For the second year, IYHA is proud to participate in this program.
The goal of the S.K.A.T.E. program is to significantly increase awareness among youth hockey players that performance in the classroom is more important in life than performance on the ice. It is also a stated goal of S.K.A.T.E. to generate a lasting, measurable impact on higher achievement in the classroom.
Who can participate in this program? All youth hockey players, 10U/Squirt through Junior Gold.
What are the criteria for qualification? A grade point average of 3.0 during the academic period, which coincides with the youth hockey season. (First and second quarters or first semester in most schools).
The reward? All qualifying players are entered in state-wide drawings for prizes including hockey equipment, Easton Synergy hockey sticks, Acceleration Minnesota passes, clothing, gift certificates, etc. (The greatest reward, or course, is the obvious benefit of academic success)

The results of last year's participation is as follows: (Team and % of participants)
10U 75%
12U 64%
Squirt A 54%
PeeWee A 38%
Squirt B 31%
Squirt C 31%
Bantam B2 24%
PeeWee C 15%
Bantam A 6%
Association wide, 38% of our eligible skaters participated in the program last year.
Our goal this year is to beat 38%! What can you do?
Skaters: Work as hard on your school work as you do on the ice. (I know how hard you all work on the ice). Set goals, make school work a priority, participate in the program and win prizes.

Parents: Keep reminding your skater(s) about the importance of school and how S.K.A.T.E. will recognize their performance. Teach them that the sport of hockey is not a destination in life, but a vehicle to learn how to better live life.
Managers: You"ll soon receive additional information and forms for the players. Please help the Coordinator collect all information by stated deadline.

Everyone: In addition to the statewide prizes, we can also offer incentives exclusively to the kids in the Irondale Association. If you own or work at a business that would be interested in donating cash, gift certificates, prizes, etc. for this academic achievement program, please contact the Irondale S.K.A.T.E. Coordinator: Tom Welty 612-508-4833

Meeting called to order by President Brad DeKanick at 7:05 p.m. Minutes: Reviewed. Amendment to reflect that Sally voted no on the motion for the Summer Academy funding. Motion to approve minutes as amended. (GR) (SS), motion carried. Agenda reviewed.

Old Business:
· General discussion of budget and player development. Need to have an overall policy / process for the funding of player development. Motion to subsidize all IYHA players who participate in one off-season skill development program (between April 1st and September 1st of 2004) at a reimbursement of 25%, not to exceed $200, of the cost of the program, with the reimbursement payable upon proof of payment (SS) (DB). Discussion. Motion carried, no abstentions.
·

Apparel: Jane DeBruzzi will come to the meeting in January and present ideas she has for IYHA (coats).
· Tournament Update: Jeanne Falconer. Moving along. Going as scheduled. Program has been set. Jeanne believes we will be sharing in the January tournament. Will be asking for volunteers, however the tournament in January is not as big. Question about the volunteers for the Thanksgiving tournament and the summer clean up. On a bigger picture, how do we assure there is some equity in volunteering. Pat will work on some type of system to bring back to log volunteer hours.
·

Budget updates: Sally unable to present, will email when computer is running again. For future budgets, will have approval in August for the next hockey season.
·

Apparel: nothing at this time. No action on coach's apparel.

New Business:
President: Brad DeKanick. Nothing new. Sally and Brad participated at the School Board meeting for discussion about middle school students playing at the High School Level, all sports were included (baseball, hockey, volleyball, etc.)
Discussion about opportunities for improving communication amongst the Board members.

Vice President: Jeanne Falconer. Tournament update given previously. Feedback about the Twin Cities league from an A team parent: very glad to have us with the TC District because they have more teams to play.

Registration: Pat O'Connor. Be prepared for special bulletins for the next hockey season, will have registration as early as possible, starting in June. Initiation books are all signed off. Still some paperwork to finish; need to have some of the coaches turn in CEP. .

Initiation Coordinator: Steve Kracht. Absent.

Boys Coordinator: Dan Marcouiller. Absent.

Girls Coordinator: Sally Sawyer. Motion that during warm-ups the ice is divided proportionally by teams (or per level) (SS) (NG). Discussion. Motion carried. Many thanks to Sally; Niki's daughter is very happy with the 10U program! We have enough for two teams!

Ice Commissioner: Mick Mata. Absent for this part of meeting.

Treasurer: Cindy Rundle. Absent. Treasurer's report information given by Gary, distributed. Payments that need to be made: John Donovan ($552.00). Motion to approve: DB, GR, motion carried. Ramsey County $14859 and Super Rink $8310 will be paid. Checking accounts: Western Bank is going to start charging for accounts. Unless we have somebody on the Board that has an account, we will be charged a fee. Pull tab money: Dan Beeson will ask John Eide what the situation is. Directors and Officers Insurance is in place.

District 2 and Twin Cities District: Dan Beeson. President's meeting is December 13th at Roseville. Referee scheduling at TC District is different than the D2 process. Need a total of $2906 payable to TC District for referee scheduling. That covers the entire season, unless our Squirts play in the year-end festival, waiting for word from Squirt coaches (email was forwarded to Dan Marcouiller today). If TC doesn't hear by November 21st, then we won't be in the year-end festival. ($4072 is payable for the referees if the Squirts play in the Festival.) Scrimmages are extra.
TC Games: any league game change must be directed through the TC Director Gene King.
D2: Discussing alleged IYHA D2 rule violations, will have more information next month.

Equipment: Gary Rundle. All of the equipment has been distributed. Ordered 200 stop signs from the Minnesota Hockey web site. Socks,a few problems with size, now fixed.

Secretary: Niki Gjere. Used $150.00 for domain name (not the $475.00 which was approved at the last meeting). Newsletter deadline is December 1st.
Additional New Business: none.